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Home again finally at last. Paul went to his doctor Tuesday and after looking at his blood oxygen level and listening to his lungs the doctor smiled and gave him a big thumbs up. We got home the first time, in a car, bikes stored in Montana, on August 27. Paul then saw the doctor on August 28. After a few tests and an examination the doctor suggested he ought to be on home oxygen but decided to wait a couple of weeks to see how much things improved.

We entertained ourselves over at the Cowhead Ranch while a film crew was there shooting video for a potential reality show for CMT with a working title of Tales of Terlingua.http://www.agoraentertainment.com/po...v/#prettyPhoto[mixed]/12/
This prospect has encountered mixed reviews among the locals but Cowboy Chris was at his best, strutting, shooting, and riding. We were also entertained at a nice dinner party by Kathy and Rob and Tracy and Art and assorted others. They all brought fine food - we just showed up as invited. As luck would have it, the Terlingua community theater group Last Minute Low Budget Productions was opening its summer presentation of Summer Shorts, a presentation of five short playlets. We went, we enjoyed, and Voni's news coverage was on the Alpine Daily Planet web site and was published in the Big Bend Gazette. Great to be back home.

Paul worked on his form at napping every so often too. We also repaired the two windows that had broken in a hail storm in May - securely covered for us in the interim by Cowboy Chris. The empty red water tank that blew off its tower in 85 mph winds remains on the ground, on its side. When Bill Calloway returns from Wisconsin in the fall we'll enlist Bill and his wrecker to help move it to a more prominent upright position so it can remain a landmark.

After a few days Paul got bored so decided to replace one of the 20 year old boards on the floor of our trailer so it would be ready to go get the bikes we left in Montana. We schemed to pass through the rally at Sipapu, maybe on the way to Montana to get the bikes or on the way back with the bikes in tow. So, after five days at home we hooked the refurbished trailer to the back of the trusty Explorer and headed to Montana. We stopped overnight in Raton, New Mexico, Buffalo, Wyoming and Whitefish, Montana on the way to Libby. We got the bikes loaded and headed back south, stopping in Columbus, Montana and Colorado Springs before reaching the rally at Sipapu for the weekend. This time when we encountered the damnable smoke between Missoula and Bozeman we both donned particle respirator masks and startled any motorists who happened to notice.

We were honored as guests at the rally and presented a seminar for the rally goers. Voni started with a presentation about achieving one million accident free miles, and her convictions that motorcycles actually run on magic and not gasoline. Paul followed with a technical question and answer session about how to fix things when magic fails to work.

We both love Montana but somehow we have the impression it doesn't like us. As chronicled last year, everything on the bikes broke in Montana. This year Paul had real problems with the smoke. Then one of the tires on the Explorer decided it didn't want to hold air reliably any more. We bought two tires. And just yesterday we discovered that one more problem happened in Montana. Truly!

We arrived at the storage facility with the trailer and found the perfect place to load the bikes onto a level trailer with no need to use a ramp. We extricated the bikes from storage. Voni's bike started right up and Paul rode it onto the trailer. Paul's bike was a little hard to start but after a bit of cranking it started and he rode it to the trailer. Just as he got there it coughed and died. Pushing the starter button caused a click but no cranking. Assuming the battery was weak from the previous cranking we just pushed the bike on the trailer, tied everything down, and headed south.

To make a long trouble-shooting story short, after we got home the bike continued to resist turning over and Paul discovered that for some as of yet unknown reason the engine seems to be locked up tighter than Vault #3 at Fort Knox. He has received a number of helpful suggestions on the Internet but has yet to amass sufficient affection for that particular traitorous bike to want very badly to take it apart. This period of disdain is likely to be overcome by curiosity at some point but that hasn't happened yet and might not happen soon. Meanwhile he has other bikes to ride which are in fine working condition.

Glad that Paul is feeling better. We rode Lolo Pass on the weekend, and it's still really smoky. We dropped into the stuff on the Spiral Highway at Lewiston Clarkson, thinking it was just local. But it didn't clear out until we got to the Lolo summit.

But at least the fires are keeping the Idaho Constabulary busy.

Last edited by Rinty; 09-14-2012 at 12:38 PM.

Rinty

"When you don't know where you're going, any road will get you there."